Thinking Outside the Inbox: Effectiveness and Challenges of District Internal Communication

• In Event: Focusing on Capacity, Coherence, and Communication With School and District Improvement Efforts

Abstract

Despite understanding the role of communication within educational organizations and in times of crisis, school districts continue to experience ambiguity and uncertainty resulting in mistrust, limited personnel buy-in, poor organizational culture, parent and community disengagement, and tension between staff and community, and overall decreasing student academic success as it remains unknown how district internal stakeholders and administration communicate, interpret, respond and utilize communicated information. Further, the literature is currently limited in its efforts to describe the process of day-to-day internal communication. In this presentation proposal, we report the results of a qualitative study aimed to explore perceptions and experiences of school district leaders, teachers, principals, and building staff with internal communication through the lens of sensemaking and sensegiving.

Authors

• Victoria Koop, Wichita State University

• Rachael Webb, Wichita State University

• Kiela M Wood, Wichita State University

• Kayla Day, Southwest Plains Regional Service Center

• Kurt Siklar, Wichita State University